Lakers white-knuckling it, but should come out on top

Published 4:00 am, Monday, April 28, 2003

The longer the series, the better chance the best team survives it, or so the theory goes. That theory is sure being put to the test, and earlier than it has in a long time.

Four games into the first series of the Lakers' attempt at a four-peat, there's no way to tell which truly is the better team, the champs or the Minnesota Timberwolves. This thing has seven games written all over it. And that seventh game is in Minneapolis.

Of course, the same scenario emerged after four games against the Kings last June in the Western Conference final. Still, after Games 3 and 4 of this series at Staples Center this past weekend -- as close to classic as first-round games can get -- all bets are off. That was white-knuckle basketball between a team that has perfected the art of dragging itself from the brink of disaster, and a team that has no fear of the champs.

Having no fear, though, isn't quite enough.

The Lakers got everything they needed to win 102-97 Sunday, after two games of getting almost nothing of what they needed. Besides, that is, the worst officiating since the NFL guys confused heads with tails a few years back. The least-surprising aspect of Sunday's game was the sight of top-notch veteran official Joey Crawford; anything less would have extended the taint of Thursday's abomination and encouraged the Timberwolves to bring charges of obstruction of justice.

With the officiating in good hands, the Lakers won it honestly. They smothered the Wolves: Minnesota went from 51 percent shooting in the first three games to 43 percent Sunday. They pounded the boards: Shaquille O'Neal had 23 rebounds, 10 offensive. They hit clutch free throws, Kobe Bryant in particular. The supporting cast finally showed up, with Mark Madsen going Mad Dog and Devean George nailing two key late jumpers.

And they accepted their luck graciously: Kevin Garnett's only two free-throw misses came with 15 seconds left and Minnesota down by just three. Until then, he had done virtually nothing wrong for three games. That includes fouling out Thursday, since in keeping with the tone of that embarrassing evening, at least two fouls were optical illusions.

With the Lakers getting pushed to the wall earlier than usual, a little history might guide us through the unknown. Maybe this team is a replica of the 1988 version, which won its second straight crown by going seven games in each of its last three series, against Utah, Dallas and Detroit. Those Magic-Kareem teams always had an easier time in the West than these Lakers ever have, and many thought then that they couldn't survive getting pushed as hard as they were. But they did.

Also in their favor: it's been a dozen years (back to the '91 Pistons) since a repeat champ had its title just taken away. Since then there have always been extenuating circumstances to the end of the reigns: two Michael Jordan retirements, in 1993 and '98, and his return in '95, which would have doomed the Rockets even had they made it through the West.

Kicking a team off its throne after it's gotten this comfortable is harder than it looks. Again, ask the Kings. And ask these Timberwolves, who have outplayed the Lakers for most of the last three games but now can't go home for Tuesday's Game 5 looking to put them away.

Before and after Sunday's game, Garnett spit in the giant's eye. "If we win this game, we feel like it's over," he told ABC beforehand; afterward, he said, "We had 'em on the ropes, too, and they know it." Of course, he became the latest to learn that to the Lakers, ropes aren't the same as canvas, and there's a difference between standing eight-counts and knockouts.

Then again, Garnett - with the exception of the two free-throw bricks - looks as if he might have more in him to knock the Lakers out by himself than any single player on either the Spurs or the Kings, the Lakers' next potential opponents. Remember, this is the guy that supposedly didn't make his teammates better. Troy Hudson, looking like this year's Mike Bibby, would beg to differ.

The big question is whether the NBA and ABC should be thrilled by this. They ought to be, even if it means they don't punch their ratings meal ticket as late in the postseason as they're used to. On the other hand, it's been years since there's been this much reason to care about the playoffs this early. The first round generally has been great lately, but that gets forgotten every year after the Lakers big-foot the poor East representative and sap the following season of much-needed intrigue.

No problem with that this year. There might be more intrigue now than the Lakers can stand.